The small village of Torcross is located at the southern end of Slapton Sands. Adjacent to the car park is a memorial Sherman tank. Villagers were evacuated when Slapton Sands was used by the Americans to rehearse for the Normandy landings in 1944. Nearly 800 servicemen lost their lives when an exercise went tragically wrong and a landing craft sank. The tank was recovered from the seabed and preserved. It now stands as a tribute to those who died.

Stirring stuff indeed, this tank is poised and seemingly ready for action. Yet, it's days of action are long past and now it is a reminder of those gory and bloody days of the past and how Slapton Sands came to be known for the disaster that befell the D-Day preparations. Emotive stuff. - Ed Taylor